Daniel Cherny

Having declared only three days ago that young midfielder Jack Macrae was ''letting us down in some areas'', Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has conceded he ''was probably too honest'' in his assessment.

Despite having a strong season in which he is averaging 25 disposals a game, McCartney made Macrae the substitute for last Sunday's game against Geelong at Simonds Stadium, and said he had been fortunate even to keep his position in the team.

''There are possessions and there is team accountability and there is defensive decision making that doesn't overload your teammates that you should make at the right time,'' McCartney said after his side's 13-point loss to the Cats.

But he said on Wednesday that he would in future keep such criticism in-house. ''I was probably too honest,'' he said.

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''I'm normally a bit more guarded than that so I've probably learnt from that. We're trying to build a certain way of doing things with[our young players] and still let them be young men growing in the game and learning the game.''

McCartney indicated that Macrae was likely to play against the Gold Coast.